Oklahoma Victims Named as Survivor Search Nears Its End

Piles of debris lie around a home destroyed by a tornado in Moore, Oklahoma. Photographer: Brett Deering/Getty Images

May 22 (Bloomberg) -- Victims of the Moore, Oklahoma,
tornado died mainly from blunt-force trauma and asphyxiation as
the storm cut a 17-mile swath through the city, the state
medical examiner said.

The mile-wide May 20 tornado took the lives of at least 24
people, including 10 children. The youngest was 4-month-old Case
Futrell and the oldest a 65-year-old man whom the office didn’t
identify. Meanwhile, municipal workers in orange vests cleaned
up streets strewn with debris after the twister damaged or
destroyed at least 1,300 homes. All missing people were
accounted for, Governor Governor Mary Fallin’s office said.

“It’s going to be a very long recovery process,” Fallin
said at a news briefing today in Moore. “There are many, many
needs.”

President Barack Obama will visit Moore, an Oklahoma City
suburb of 55,000, on May 26 to view damage and meet survivors of
the storm, which topped the National Weather Service scale for
tornado strength. The twister destroyed Plaza Towers Elementary
School and a hospital, and injured 353 as winds exceeding 200
miles (322 kilometers) per hour ripped off roofs and twisted
sheet metal around splintered trees and utility poles.

Two Infants

Two of the victims were infants, 15 were female and nine
male, Amy Elliott, chief administrative officer at the state
medical examiner’s office, said in an e-mail. All but one had
been identified and their bodies were ready to be returned to
their families, she said. Some shared the same last name.

Officials don’t know the whereabouts of six adults and
whether they left the area without making contact or are buried
in rubble, said Albert Ashwood, the state’s top emergency
manager.

Residents could return to what was left of their homes in
neighborhoods blocked by police today from 3 p.m. local time
until dark, said Moore Mayor Glenn Lewis.

The Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management gave a
preliminary figure of 2,800 damaged or destroyed homes based on
a flyover of the disaster area yesterday, said Matt Skinner, a
spokesman. The Federal Emergency Management Agency pegged the
number at 1,316 homes and 47 nonresidential structures in a
briefing today.

The storm may have caused as much as $2 billion in damages
and affected 30,000 people, said Oklahoma City Mayor Mick
Cornett.

Sun Shining

The cleanup phase began as rescuers wound down the search
for survivors and victims. The sun was out today as hundreds of
volunteers arrived on foot and by bus at a 20-acre municipal
cemetery, some with tools in hand, to clear shredded vegetation
and fragments of houses.

A couple of miles away, about 20 dump trucks lined up on an
Interstate 35 service road near Moore’s hardest-hit area, as
crews worked nearby.

Obama’s declaration of a major disaster makes government
funding available to people in five counties. About a thousand
have applied, FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate said today on
MSNBC.

“At some point the cameras will leave,” Homeland Security
Secretary Janet Napolitano, who arrived in Moore today, said at
the briefing. “We will be here to stay until this recovery is
complete. You have our commitment on that.”

Top Strength

The tornado was an EF5, the most powerful on the Enhanced
Fujita scale, according to the National Weather Service in
Norman. The storm was 1.3 miles across at its widest.

The twister hit two days before the second anniversary of
the deadliest single U.S. tornado in almost 60 years, which
slammed into Joplin, Missouri, about 225 miles northeast of
Moore. That storm killed 161 people and caused more than $2
billion in damage.

In May 1999, 40 people died and 675 were injured in
Oklahoma after dozens of tornadoes swept through the Great
Plains, including Moore.

Oklahoma City has been struck by tornadoes more times than
any other place in the U.S., according to government data. The
May 20 storm came the day after two people were killed and 39
injured in separate storms in the state. At least 30 tornadoes
were reported on May 19 from Illinois to Oklahoma.

In Oklahoma, residents mourned those who didn’t survive,
and communities mobilized to help one another. Donations began
pouring in, including a $1 million gift to the American Red
Cross from Kevin Durant of the National Basketball Association’s
Oklahoma City Thunder. The team also donated the same amount to
relief efforts.

Churches, shelters and neighbors helped house the newly
homeless. In addition to food, shelter and mental-health care,
the Red Cross will supply people with items such as tarps,
pails, mops and gloves to sift through their belongings, said
Gail McGovern, the group’s chief executive officer.